2024 was third warmest year in Spain after 2022 and 2023, with rainfall also increasing by 5%

Spain's national weather agency (Aemet) has published its annual climate report for Spain 2024. The analysis confirms that last year was "extremely warm" and "wet", with a long-lasting drought that was losing intensity, as explained by the agency's spokesman Rubén del Campo, in charge of presenting the sixth edition of this analysis.

The average annual temperature in 2024 was 15.1C, which is 1.1C higher than in the reference period 1991-2020. It was the third warmest year, behind 2022 and 2023. The 11 warmest years in Spain have been recorded in the 21st century. Between 1961 and 2024, the average annual temperature has risen by 1.69C. The last year with a temperature lower than normal was 2014.

Aemet spokesperson Rubén del Campo says that greenhouse gases, which cause climate change, reached record levels at the Izaña atmospheric observatory, located in Tenerife. In 2024, carbon dioxide reached an annual average of 424.3 ppm (parts per million), an increase of 3.4 ppm compared to 2023.

The report shows that throughout 2024 warm spells predominated over cold spells. There were three heat waves in summer, but no cold waves. The three heat waves occurred between 18 July and 12 August.

Spain's sea waters reached an annual average temperature of 20C. It was the second year with the warmest waters, after 2023. Between 21 November and 23 December, the waters of the Balearic Sea broke temperature records for that time of year, as did the waters of the Canary Islands between 1 January and 26 February.

In terms of precipitation, 669.1mm accumulated in 2024, which is 105% more than the norm. It was the 26th wettest in the historical series and the tenth wettest of the 21st century. Although it was a wet year in most of the Peninsula, it was dry or very dry in the southeast. It was also the driest year of the series in the Canary Islands.

At the end of the year, Spain was still in a long-term drought situation that had started in March 2023. However, it became less intense in the last months of 2024. This year's heavy rainfall brought a relief to the crisis.

The most adverse meteorological episode not only of the year, but of the last decade, occurred at the end of October 2024: torrential rains associated with a cold drop ('dana') caused a severe flood in the province of Valencia on 29 October. Other areas along the Mediterranean coast were also affected.

During the episode, the weather station at Turís (Valencia) accumulated 772mm in 24 hours - the second highest on record at national level. There is only one other episode with more than 817mm, which occurred in Oliva, also in the province of Valencia, in 1987. In addition, 185mm were accumulated in one hour, 621 in six hours and 720 in 12 hours. The six- and 12-hour records were double the previous records.

Del Campo said that this summer "is expected to be warmer than usual". There is a greater risk of forest fires due to the accumulation of vegetation caused by the rains this spring. "When this combustible material dries out, we face a higher risk, although last spring was also rainy and it was not a very bad season in terms of fires."

The forecast for the coming weeks is for temperatures to rise "quite a bit" and to remain high for the remainder of May and early June.

Del Campo also said: "Although March was very cold, the first two months were warm and April was also warm. During the first half of May temperatures were a little below normal, but now they are going to pick up."

The spokesperson attributed the generous rainfall this spring to a change in the usual circulation of the atmosphere, which has brought water to the south and drought to northern Europe.

"In the upper levels of the atmosphere, there is a very strong wind current that crosses the Atlantic from west to east and acts as a conveyor belt for storms. This current usually circulates at higher latitudes than ours, which explains the lush greenery and frequent rainfall in the British Isles, also observable in Scandinavia. Sometimes, it drops in latitude and then the storms arrive in our country and it rains abundantly, especially on the Atlantic side and in the central area. That is normal. What is not so normal is that it happens so frequently throughout the spring. In other words, the jet stream has been sending us storms continuously throughout the whole of March, part of April and the first fortnight of May," said Del Campo.

Although these rains have filled reservoirs (the water reserve is at 77%, ten points higher than a year ago), Del Campo urged the public "to be very cautious with the use of these resources, because we can quickly go back to a dry period".